Bank Survey: Brexit May Stabilize Oil Recovery

A new survey of some of the largest investment banks should give market stakeholders hoping to see steady oil pricing above $50 per barrel through next year a sigh of relief in a post-Brexit world.

The query of 14 of the world’s premiere investment banking institutions finds that by the year-end of 2017, the Brent crude oil price should average around $57 per barrel. While the latest consensus forecast may not be as aggressive as seen in previous quarters, steady growth above the $50 mark toward $65 should keep investment on par with demand, according to a recent Breitbart Texas report.

The bank survey, compiled by The Wall Street Journal, found the London-based Standard Chartered PLC (LON: STAN) to be the most bullish among participants, seeing a 2017 value around $76 per barrel. Amsterdam-based ING Bank (NYSE: ING) offered the most bearish estimate of $45, however. Parisian Société Générale (EPA: GLE) typically strode the median value ending at $57.

Separate from the latest survey, Raymond James & Associates made headlines in late June predicting $80 values over the same period, basing their finding on global production cuts, outages and a likely “price pop” due to American producers’ collective inability to quickly unstack drilling rigs or finish uncompleted wells, according to Breitbart Texas. The WSJ reported Thursday that oilfield services companies like Halliburton and Schlumberger are short tens of thousands of employees due to the 2014 slump. Their parked fleets have not done well either.

“Pop the hood on your car and let it sit for a year. I guarantee the car won’t be in the same condition,” Roe Patterson, chief executive of Fort Worth, Texas-based Basic Energy Services Inc. told the paper.

Additional variables continue to stoke post-Brexit fears as they relate to the price of oil, however. It remains to be seen if a strengthened U.S. dollar, upon which benchmark pricing is pegged, drives the commodity downward in value.

American producers can be certain of vast, untapped oil reserves. As Breitbart Texas recently reported, the U.S. now outranks Saudi Arabia and Russia in recoverable crude, largely within Texas.

Logan Churchwell is the Assistant Editor and a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. You can follow him on Twitter @LCChurchwell.